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November 8
1800s *1894 - King Kelly, probably the most popular baseball player of the 19th century, dies of pneumonia in Boston. 1900s-1950 *1920 - At a meeting to depose Ban Johnson as the American League president, a new 12-team National League, made up of the dissenting 11 teams plus one of the five teams loyal to Johnson, is agreed to. John Heydler will be its president and federal judge Kenesaw Landis the proposed chairman of the new commission. This revolutionary plan for a new senior circuit will be discarded a few days later, after four of the five American League clubs still backing Johnson agree to a joint meeting November 12th in Chicago. *1934 - Ford Frick, National League publicity director, is named league president. He will eventually become commissioner. *1950: **The Baseball Writers Association of America announces that slugging first baseman Walt Dropo of the Boston Red Sox is the Rookie of the Year in the American League. Dropo led the league with 144 RBI. **Commissioner Happy Chandler and players' representatives agree on the split of the TV and radio rights from the World Series. *1951 - New York Yankees catcher Yogi Berra wins the first of his three Most Valuable Player awards. *1954 - American League owners approve the move of the Philadelphia Athletics to Kansas City. The vote is 6-2 in favor. The transplanted Athletics will play home games at Municipal Stadium, which will be expanded from 17,000 to 36,000 seats. *1955 - In a nine-player trade, first baseman Mickey Vernon is send by the Washington Senators to the Boston Red Sox. 1960s-1970s *1961 - With only one Cy Young Award given for the two leagues, Whitey Ford, the American League leader in wins (25) and innings pitched (283), won the honor ahead of Warren Spahn, who led the National League in wins (21) and ERA (3.02). In one of the closest votes in Award history, future Hall of Famers Ford and Spahn totaled nine and six points respectively. *1966 - Triple Crown winner Frank Robinson of the Baltimore Orioles is the unanimous choice as American League MVP. He becomes the first major league player to win the award in both leagues. *1977: **Hall of Fame manager Bucky Harris dies on his 81st birthday. Harris won two World Championships and three American League pennants over a 29-year career with the Washington Senators and New York Yankees. **George Foster of the Cincinnati Reds is named the National League MVP. The slugging left fielder, part of Cincinnati’s explosive “Big Red Machine”, led the NL in home runs with 52 and in RBI with 149. **1977 - Free agent Richie Zisk, formerly of the Chicago White Sox, signs a 10-year $2.3 million contract with the Texas Rangers. *1979: **The New York Yankees free agents first baseman Bob Watson and pitcher Rudy May to long-term contracts. The two veterans will help the Yankees to an American League-leading 103 victories in the 1980 season. **New York Mets president Lorinda de Roulet announces the team is for sale, beginning a two-month bidding war. 1980s-1990s *1983 - Atlanta Braves outfielder Dale Murphy, who hit .302 with 36 home runs, 121 RBI and 30 stolen bases in the National League, joins Ernie Banks, Joe Morgan and Mike Schmidt as one of the players who has won the MVP Award in consecutive years.Murphy receives 21 of the 24 votes cast. *1989 - Chicago Cubs outfielder Jerome Walton wins the National League Rookie of the Year Award, collecting 22 of 24 first-place votes to defeat teammate Dwight Smith. They are the first NL to finish 1-2 in the voting since the Philadelphia Phillies rookies Jack Sanford and Ed Bouchee in 1957. Walton also becomes first Cubs player to win rookie honors since Billy Williams, in 1961. *1990 - Free agent slugger Darryl Strawberry signs a five-year contract with his hometown Los Angeles Dodgers, formally ending his eight-year stay with the New York Mets. He is the all-time home run leader for the Mets with 252. *1991 - Cal Ripken, Jr. of the Baltimore Orioles is named the American League MVP, beating out Cecil Fielder of Detroit. The Gold Glove third baseman hit .323 with 34 home runs and 114 RBI. *1998: **The New York Mets announce general manager Steve Phillips will take a paid leave of absence while a threatened sexual-harassment lawsuit against him is resolved. Phillips acknowledges having had an extramarital affair with a woman, but denies having harassed her. Frank Cashen will replace Phillips on an interim basis. **The Colorado Rockies sign free agent pitcher Brian Bohanon to a three-year contract. **Chicago Cubs right fielder Sammy Sosa is named the National League MVP. Sosa hits 66 home runs and led the National League in RBI with 158 while carrying his team to the playoff. *1999: **Cincinnati Reds reliever Scott Williamson is named Rookie of the Year in the National League. Williamson was not on the Reds roster at the beginning of the year, but ended with a 12–7 record, 19 saves, a 2.41 ERA, and 107 strikeouts in 93.1 innings pitched. **The Dodgers trade disgruntled outfielder Raúl Mondesí and pitcher Pedro Borbón, Jr. to Toronto for OF Shawn Green and IF Jorge Núñez. Green said he wanted to play in a metropolitan city with a large Jewish population, but apparently the California native didn't include Toronto in that. **The U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution calling for Shoeless Joe Jackson to be honored. The resolution stops short of calling for his induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame. "It is worthy for this body to take a few minutes to stand up for fairness and right an old wrong," said Rep. Jim DeMint, the author of the resolution who represents Jackson's hometown of Greenville, S.C. Jackson was eligible for the Hall of Fame until 1991 but was never voted in either by the Baseball Writers Association of America or the veterans committee. In 1991, the Hall's board adopted a resolution prohibiting players on the permanently banned list. The resolution now goes to the US Senate. **Toronto Blue Jays traded star outfielder Shawn Green to the Los Angeles Dodgers for left-handed relief pitcher Pedro Borbón, Jr. and right-fielder Raúl Mondesí. This was due to the fact that the Blue Jays had only enough money to sign one of Green or Delgado, and the Jays decided to keep Delgado. 2000s *2000: **After leading the Chicago White Sox to their first playoffs in seven years despite having one of the lowest payrolls in the majors (21st out of 30), Jerry Manuel is selected by the BBWAA as the American League Manager of the Year. **The Colorado Rockies obtain pitcher Ron Villone from the Cincinnati Reds for two minor league players to be named. *2004: **Jason Bay, who hit .282 with 26 home runs and 82 RBI, becomes the first Pittsburgh Pirates player, as well as the first Canadian, to win the National League Rookie of the Year. **Receiving 27 of 28 first-place votes, Oakland Athletics shortstop Bobby Crosby wins the American League Rookie of the Year Award. Crosby, who is the son of former big leaguer infielder Ed Crosby, hit .239 with 22 home runs and 64 RBI. He joins Harry Bird (1952), José Canseco (1986), Mark McGwire (1987), Walt Weiss (1988) and Ben Grieve (1998) as the sixth Athletics freshman to be honored by the BBWAA. A year later, closer Huston Street will be the seventh A’s rookie rewarded. *2005: **Los Angeles Angels pitcher Bartolo Colón, who led the American League with 21 wins, received the Cy Young Award honor. Colón is the second pitcher in Angels history to win the award. Dean Chance was the winner in 1964, back when there was one award for the two leagues. Colón received 17 of 28 first-place votes cast and finished with 118 points. Closer Mariano Rivera of the New York Yankees finished second with eight first-place votes and 68 points, while Johan Santana of the Minnesota Twins, who was the 2004 Cy Young winner, was third and had three first-place votes and 51 points. ** Commissioner Bud Selig has made it clear he doesn't want instant replay. Even Angels manager Mike Scioscia, who had a dreadful call go against his team in the American League Championship Series, says leave calls to the human element of umpiring. That, however, won't stop general managers from debating the issue this week. **Infielder Neifi Pérez and the Chicago Cubs agreed to a $5 million, two-year contract. Pérez, who became a free agent in October, hit .274 with nine home runs and 54 RBI last season. **The New York Yankees let Tino Martinez go, declining their $3 million option on the popular first baseman. Martinez returned to New York in 2005 and hit .241 in part-time duty with 17 home runs and 49 RBI. He was a staple in the Yankees' lineup from 1996-2001, helping the team to four World Series championships and five American League pennants with his clutch hitting and reliable defense. Births *1870 - Bill Hoffer, pitcher (d. 1959) *1896 - Bucky Harris, Hall of Fame player and manager (d. 1977) *1907 - Tony Cuccinello, All-Star infielder (d. 1995) *1920 - Wally Westlake, All-Star outfielder *1944 - Ed Kranepool, All-Star infielder *1952 - John Denny, pitcher *1952 - Jerry Remy, All -Star infielder *1954 - Gary Lucas, pitcher *1963 - Dwight Smith, outfielder *1965 - Jeff Blauser, All-Star infielder *1967 - Eric Anthony, outfielder *1967 - Henry Rodríguez, All-Star outfielder *1968 - José Offerman, All-Star infielder *1969 - Shane Halter, infielder *1973 - Edgardo Alfonzo, All-Star infielder *1977 - Nick Punto, infielder Deaths *1884 - King Kelly, Hall of Fame player and manager (b. 1857) *1942 - Birdie Cree, outfielder (b. 1882) *1951 - Claude Ritchey, infielder (b. 1873) *1977 - Bucky Harris, Hall of Fame player and manager (b. 1896) *1990 - Earl Torgeson, infielder (b. 1924) *1993 - Hank Leiber, All-Star outfielder (b. 1911)